Understanding Horse Behaviour: A Practical Guide

Decode your horse's body language, understand common vices, and build a better partnership through behavioural awareness.

Horse Care · 2026-03-22 · 6 min read

Horses are prey animals with a complex language of body signals, vocalisations, and behaviours. Understanding these signals helps you build trust, prevent accidents, and identify problems early. This practical guide covers the behaviours every South African horse owner should recognise.

Reading Body Language

Ears

• Forward: Alert, interested, focused on something ahead
• One forward, one back: Listening in two directions — relaxed and attentive
• Pinned flat back: Warning — the horse is angry, in pain, or about to kick/bite
• Floppy/sideways: Relaxed, dozing, or bored

Eyes

• Soft, half-closed: Relaxed and content
• Wide, showing white (sclera): Frightened, stressed, or in pain
• Hard stare: Focused and potentially reactive

Tail

• Carried naturally: Relaxed
• Clamped down: Nervous, cold, or in pain
• Swishing aggressively: Annoyed — by flies, rider aids, or another horse
• Flagged high: Excited, alert, potentially about to spook

Overall Posture

• Weight evenly distributed: Comfortable
• Resting a hind leg: Normal resting behaviour
• Repeatedly shifting weight: Possible foot pain
• Standing apart from the herd: May be unwell — horses are social animals

Common Stable Vices

Stable vices are repetitive behaviours that develop from stress, boredom, or copying other horses.

Cribbing (Windsucking)

The horse grabs a fixed object with its teeth, arches its neck, and gulps air. Causes tooth wear and colic risk.

Management: More turnout, cribbing collar, remove cribbing surfaces, increase forage.

Weaving

Shifting weight from side to side at the stable door. Causes uneven limb loading.

Management: Increase turnout and social contact. Anti-weave grilles help but don't address the cause.

Box Walking

Circling endlessly in the stable. Sign of severe stress.

Management: More turnout, larger stable, stable mirrors, companion animal.

Wood Chewing

Not the same as cribbing — the horse actually eats wood. Often a sign of boredom or mineral deficiency.

Management: Provide ad-lib hay, salt lick, and more stimulation.

Behavioural Red Flags When Buying

When viewing a horse for purchase, watch for:

• Girthiness — snapping or kicking when the girth is tightened (may indicate back pain or ulcers)
• Head-shy — pulling away when you touch ears or face (may have been ear-twitched or have dental pain)
• Difficulty catching — running away in the paddock (relationship or pain issue)
• Stable aggression — ears back, snapping when you enter (fear, pain, or poor handling)
• Under-saddle anxiety — jigging, refusing to stand, constant tension (pain, fear, or training issues)

Important: Many behavioural 'problems' are actually symptoms of pain. Before labelling a horse as 'difficult,' rule out physical causes: teeth, back, saddle fit, ulcers, and feet.

A horse that is well-managed, pain-free, and treated with respect will usually behave well. When behaviour changes suddenly, think pain first, training second.

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